Children of the Archangels

CHAPTER 3: A SWORD MADE FROM A STAR

Luke was just having a crappy day. But this crappy day just might be his last.

And what about Nellie? How devastated would she be to find out if he had died? Or worse—what if she never found out and thought he abandoned her for someone else? Or even super worse, what if she shrugs it off and finds herself a much buffer and sexier man from Brazil or something? Those tans were caramelized sugar gold.

Kevin caught Luke who had stumbled from his arms. He rested Luke on the snow, and his body was numb from the cold. Blood turned the white snow red like a cherry snow cone. Luke wanted to freak out, but the weariness from using his ability and the loss of blood was making his eyes heavy. Soon, Luke's body stopped shivering. He didn't even feel Kevin remove the arrow from his stomach and begin to apply pressure on the wound. "A medic right now would be nice!"

"Well that medic is being occupied by a demon right now," Victor spoke from behind his ski mask. Meanwhile the medic, Tejero, was doing his best to fight off the Aeria but was failing miserably.

Before long Tejero was under complete control of the demon, who aimed his arrows at Victor. Two arrows tore through the air and Victor held up a watch which at the flick of a wrist sprouted a metal shield just in time to stop the arrows. The arrows dented the design of a black eagle that decorated the shield.

Before Victor could lower his shield, he was shoulder bashed by Tejero. Victor went rolling around the snow and looked like a pig in a white blanket, but probably didn't taste as delicious.

The next two arrows, drawn back tight against the string, were aimed right for Kevin and Luke. To Luke, the world looked about as clear as if he had just downed several gallons of gin. He probably wouldn't even feel the last arrow that would end his life.

Luke's life was in Kevin's hands. He had to make a choice: abandon Luke and save himself or try and save Luke and get the both of them killed.

Luke knew the logical choice Kevin would make—save himself.

So he was surprised when Kevin didn't abandon him and instead tried to block the speeding arrow with his blades.

Luke knew he was dizzy, because he could've sworn he saw the arrow leave the bow—but then the arrow seemed to simply vanish.

Even the demon inside Tejero was surprised. "Gonjá be damned!"

Meanwhile, stumbling from his snowmobile was the third person, hidden behind the ski-mask and unarmed. His right eye's pupil morphed into a diamond with a cross in the center. Surrounding the diamond was a blue sea with black waves cresting over the water like eels skimming the surface.

And atop that diamond raft, the pupil in the middle of the sea of his eye, was an arrow.

A whirlpool swallowed the raft, clearing the arrow from the diamond raft that rose to the surface again coated in tears.

The demon noticed the third combatant coming towards him and shifted Tejero's body, reaching for another arrow from his quiver. But before he could lace his hands around one, he got the head of an arrow as a present delivered right through the palm of his hand.

The demon and Tejero yelled with separate voices battling for control. "How?"

The third figure said nothing. His actions seemed almost instinctual. He clenched his left fist and sprouting from the palm of his hand was a tiny sun. The sun elongated into a golden sword of light.

The demon within Tejero hissed with a cocktail of emotions: a sprinkle of cold fear, a dose of raw anger, and a swirl of confusion. "Master?"

"Fajama," the third person spoke with a tongue that sounded so slitheringly seductive it could convince darkness to turn bright and death to give life.

Tejero's eyes started to roll white and then his body slumped to the ground. The third person swung his sword of light across the air and it looked like he was cutting through cheese. The light from the golden sun illuminated sockets that contained no eyes, only blood leaking like a dripping cave entrance; it showed a mouth that was permanently left wide opened and stretched so far apart a manhole cover could fit inside; wings zig-zagged like those of a bat, only it lacked skin and it looked more like connecting withering tree branches.

The light from the golden sword illuminated a demon that no one should've been able to see.

But Luke saw it. Luke also noticed the light from the sword consume the demon like it was a bathtub draining water.

The whispers of the wind died down. The storm dissipated and all that was left was the overcasting clouds above.

The golden sword fizzled out like the embers of a fading fire. The third person knelt next to Tejero and wrapped his hands around Tejero's wounded palm. When he pulled back, the wound was healed completely and Tejero was groaning like he had a really bad nightmare.

"Nice of you to finally join the battle," Kevin said from besides Luke. "Who's your archangel?"

The guy turned toward Kevin, his right eye had long faded back to his normal dark gray eye that could make threatening storm clouds look like fluffy kittens. Yet Luke caught a slight glimpse of his left eye as it faded from a galaxy of stars with a massive golden epicenter into the same dark gray as his right eye.

Suddenly, he felt a hand, that was not his or Kevin's, cover the wound over his gut. He felt a tugging, like his skin was pulling itself back together.

The mysterious third person had teleported before him, and pulled down his ski mask to reveal a smile that made up for the somber eyes he possessed. How he managed to teleport from Tejero over to Luke's side was something Luke's brain was struggling to fill. The guy's skin was a creamy eggnog mixture. His hair danced between brown and blond—no one could definitely say which way he leaned. The only fault on his face was his extremely thin eyebrows. They were barely existent, as if the last of it has been singed over a flame he tipped his face into and he had to replace them with a pencil sketching.

"I hate talking inside this mask—always get wool in my mouth," he reached his hand out to Kevin after whipping his hair under control. "I'm Sirius, and you must be Kevin Hernandez."

Kevin's gaze moved from Sirius's hand to Luke. "Think you can work your Raphael magic on this kid here instead of flirting with me?"

Most people would probably curse Kevin out. Luke was just surprised Kevin actually gave a damn about him. But Sirius just laughed it off. "Sure, but I think he'll be fine."

"Are you blind or stupid? He's freaking bleeding..."

Luke felt a tug lift him up, as if the air gave him a gentle nudge behind him to help him stand up. He clutched onto Kevin's shoulder for support, breathing like he had just battled an army of fighters with a stick and had won. Kevin looked down at Luke's wound amazed. Luke was clutching a wound that had appeared to have long since healed ages ago with no scar left in its place.